BC BOXERS, bantams and feathers

A LOOK AND PAST BANTAMS AND FEATHERS: by Brian Zelley

PHOTOS:
Alan Brown and Roger Adolph
John Gamble and Wayne Boyce
Frank Scott and Brian Zelley
Jess Brown and Dale Walers

The following is 29 former boxers that engaged in ring activity
in the bantamweight and featherweight divisons, Over time, sme
would have competed in other divisions from flyweight to
welterweight. Add two of the best from Portland and Seattle,
RAY LAMPKIN and NEIL KNIGHT and some great bouts are guaranteed,

and it makes for some exciting boxing through the ages.
Then add current champions like Jess Brown.

BOXERS FROM 1966 to 1990
Alan Brown, Barry Lowe, Bob Kacer, Brian Gray, Brian Zelley
Butch O'Gurien, Chris Ius, Cliff Ballendine, Dale Walters, Del Deugau,
Frankie Scott, Freddie Hughes, Geronimo Bie, Greg Laboucan, Harold Handlin,
Jimmy McMillan, Joe Cooke, John Cowan, Ken MacDonald, Ken Henderson
Ken Stant, Leo Chabot, Les Hamilton, Michael O'Reilly, Mickey Griffin,
Orlan Ralph, Roger Adolph, Ron MacEachern, and Wayne Boyce.

If we take the time period from 1939 to 2011, there would be many more.
We could try to select who was the best at a certain point intime, but
that is open to subjective opinions. And there is likely no one we
could try to compare boxers such as Roger adolph or Ken MacDonald of
1966 with the likes of Les Hamilton of the Seventies or Bie of the
Nineties.

Tying to compare activity of boxers of the Sixties with boxers of the
Eighties and Nineties would be an interesting academic exercise but it
could not compare the skills and abilities of one boxer over another.

BOXING BC Prepares for 2011/2012

BOXING IN BC READY FOR ACTION IN 2011/2012 by Brian Zelley
BOXING in BRITISH COLUMBIA AT THE BELL

THE BOXING BC CLUBS are warming up for potential action in the ring
with tentative schedule of events:

BC PROVINCIAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
THE FIRST major tournament will be the Provincial Championships
scheduled for Vancouver Island November 26 and 27th.

This tournament is an important first step in establishing the
various teams for action in National oompetition in junior,
youth and senior open competition.

The senior and youth novice tournament is expected to take
place in December, and all the other regular tournaments
will take place in different regions of the province.
They would include Diamond Belt, Silver Gloves, Emerald
Gloves, Golden Gloves, Bronze Gloves and the Buckskin Gloves.

RECENT YEARS EVENTS:

A previous S.I.N. Tournament was jointly hosted by two Kelowna based clubs.

FORMER GOLDEN BOYS FROM 1968 and 1969 BC GOLDEN GLOVES tournaments include
1968, RAY LAMPKIN of Portland, and 1969 NEIL KNIGHT of Seattle.

The 2012 BC GOLDEN GLOVES is expected to be held in april in
the Okanagan region, in 2010 it was held in Langford community of
Greater Victoria when the 1960 Golden Boy, Al Curtis was recognized.

The Golden Gloves is the oldest annual tournament in British Columbia
and was started in 1939 with the help of The Vancouver Sun newspaper
and The Active Club. In 1967, Dick Findlay become a double golden boy,
he had won the special award in 1966 and 1967, and in 1968 he was named
Golden Boy runner-up. The 1959 Golden Boy was Jack Straza

DIAMOND BELT CHAMPIONSHIPS

Names from 2011:
Abdul Hamil, Christopher Cordova, Dave Funk and Dylan Bishop.

Tournament expected to take place in January 2012. The tournament
has an interesting history with the 1967 tournament being one of
the 2011 inductees into the BC AMATEUR BOXING HALL OF FAME.

Guest referee for the 1967 tournament was ROCKY MARCIANO. The Diamond Boy
was Dave Wylie. Dave defeated three opponents to win the
special award during the Cenntenial year of 1967.

BC Boxers in the finals:
Derek austin, Ron MacEachern,
Frank Scott, Wayne, Boyce,
Brian Zelley, Dick Coulson,
Freddy Fuller, Pat O'Reilly jr.,
Dennis Rorick, Ron Wilson,
Marijan Kolar, Bill Taylor.

some of the other boxers were;
Dick Findlay, Kalman Santosi,
Clint Page, Rick Fleck,
Chester Douglas and Ed Williams.

EMERALD GLOVES
The Emerald Gloves will be a
March 2012 engagement in Delta.

The Emerald Gloves as a long history
that was founded by Bro O'Grady
The first double Emerald Boy was
JIMMY WALTERS On a traditional
basis it was for many years a junior
open tournament, but now it is wide open.

in the mid-Sixties one of the Emerald
Gloves champions was the London Boxing
Clubs' Gary Van Buskirk and
the Nanaimo Newcastle Boxing Club's
Mike Lazare. Of course, over
the years there have been many boxers
that have gone on to open class senior
competition with a variety of results.

2011 EMERALD GLOVES

SILVER GLOVES
The Silver Gloves will take place at the end of
February 2012 in the Fraser Valley region.

During the Sixties some of the shows were hosted by the Richmond
Boxing Club. In 1968, Nanaimo boxer Tony James competed
in the Silver Gloves and then turned to 1968 Golden Gloves
held in Vancouver and in his opening bout, James faced 1967
Canadian Featherweight ChampionWayne Boyce, Astoria Boxing Club.
Wayne won the decision, but many thought the unknown
Tony James earned thedecision.

Over the years the Silver Gloves gave Novice senior boxers an opportunity to
gain experience, and for many it served as a stepping stone towards open
senior activity.

In 1981, the tournament was held in Campbell
River. Now, thirty years later it will be
held on the mainland, but the thrill for
the many boxers competing in their
first tournament will be the same.

1979 Flashbacks
In Chilliwack, Nanaimo boxer Lee Campbell scored three KO's
to win the 1979 Silver gloves middleweight division.
But, Nanaimo boxer Norm Greenwell
lost a decision to Kelowna's Joe Mercer in
the finals of the light-welterwight division,
Dale Walters of Burnaby edged Don Preston
of the Nanaimo Boxing Club.

BUCKSKIN GLOVES
This tournament was revived in the Seventies
due to the efforts of ED WILLIAMS and ROGER ADOLPH.
For 2012, this tournament will be the last in the 2011/92012
BC Amateur Boxing season. It is expected to take place in
June 2012 in the Vancouver Squamish region.

CHANGES in the PROCESS for BOXING BC
As of October 2011, Boxing BC has three interim executive members
until additional steps are taken to elect a new president
and other executive members and board of directors.

There are no clear front runners for the position of president.
But, recently a name that has come forware is ROGER ADOLPH.

SIXTIES FLASHBACKS - ROGER ADOLPH

DIAMOND BELT CHAMPIONSHIPS fast forward

1980 REVIVAL of the BC DIAMOND BELT Amateur Boxing Tournament - Victoria, BC

Following the 1967 and 1968 tournaments, a dozen years would pass until
a revival of the Diamond Belt tournament took place in Victoria in 1980'

Funny thing, in February 1980, in Max Low's article in Victoria's "Times-Colonist"
part of the pre-1980 Diamond Belt hype and publicity focused on 1967 and 1968
Diamond Belt tournaments with the following headline:
"Young boxers eager while vets look back"

It was interesting as to which former BC boxers would get mentioned.
In chronological order of the names, they were:

Brian ZELLEY, Dave WYLIE, Fred FULLER, Frank SCOTT, Wayne BOYCE,
Dick FINDLAY, Kalman SANTOSI,Clint PAGe, Les VEGAS, Ken ALEXANDER,
Bill TAYLOR, Brian GRAY, Marijon KOLAR and Melvin HARRIS.

The names of USA boxers mentioned were:
Ted WEBB, Jerry WINTERS, Greg GUMFER, Jamie PHILLS, Don STAAB,
Wesley CRAVEN and Larry HIGH.

Not to be forgotten were names of two Victoria coaches:
LOU BUJDOSO and MIKE CAIRD. and
Vancouver Island Commissioner RICK BROUGH.